The North American rig count continued inching upward in the latest count from Baker Hughes, Kallanish Energy reports.

The U.S. count increased by five rigs and the Canadian count increased by three rigs in the Oct. 23 county that was released by the Texas-based well services company.

Texas gained two rigs, Oklahoma and Alaska each gained one rig and Louisiana lost one rig in the latest count.

The Permian Basin, the No. 1 U.S. drilling hot spot, gained three rigs, climbing to 133. A year ago, the Permian Basin had 417 working rigs.

The U.S. on-land rig count increased from 267 to 273. There are also one inland waters rig and 13 Gulf of Mexico rigs (a drop of one rig from last week).

The U.S. total was 287 rigs, up from 282 on Oct. 16. A year ago, the U.S. had 830 rigs.

The U.S. oil rig count increased by six from 205 to 211. The natural gas rig count dropped by one from 74 to 73. A year ago, there were 696 oil rigs and 133 natural gas rigs.

Canada had 83 rigs at work in the new count. There were 42 oil rigs, up two from the previous week, and 41 gas rigs, up one from the previous week. A year ago, Canada had 102 oil rigs and 45 gas rigs.

Rig counts are an indication of drilling activity and future wells. The drop in rig counts started in March with the spread of the coronavirus and resulting lower demand and low prices with small rebounds in recent weeks.

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